Dodge: The Choice
by Vivian Hale
Summary: A mysterious Con arrives at base, shattering the somewhat calm atmosphere. Will this new mech effect Shaderacer's choice of joining the Autobots?   Book 2 following the Dodge storyline.  Very OC oriented, rated T for violence, just in case.
1. Plan A

Plan A

Vivi- This is book two of Dodge, so if you are a new reader, I suggest going to read that first, otherwise… "Spoilers!" –River Song

-0-

_Blood red optics shone in the shadows as the red and black mech made his way out of the Decepticon base in the late afternoon. It was time to make his move. The sand made faint whispering sounds, his hydraulics hissed, and his mechanical joints shifted, but his voice was silent. No one must know of his plans. If they did, they would drag him back to base and call him a fool. A fool for risking his spark on a mere youngling. _

_A soft rev of his engine showed he wouldn't have backed down. He would have fought back and gone on anyway. The information that _youngling _had in her processor was vital. They would have had to go after her anyway. It would help having an inside mech. _

_A smirk spread across the mech's faceplates as he shifted into his alt-mode. The Autobots didn't know what was coming for them. He then pulled onto the road and sped off with a roar of his engine. Plan A was now in motion._

-0-

Sparkling laughter rang out from the Rec room, bringing a grin to Electrostar's face. A young femme's laughter joined the first. Star went back to her report with a soft chuckle. Her oldest daughter was certainly good with the baby of the family.

Then a sharp cry came from the Rec room, and Star immediately stood and hurried over.

The cause of the shriek was instantly pinpointed. Optimus Prime's twins, Whirlwind and Steelcharger had been playing with her own sparkling, Scatterstar, but Steel had snatched Scatter's toy bear and had ripped an arm. Scatter was sobbing as Steel gleefully tossed the stuffing around.

"Steel!" Shaderacer, Star's oldest daughter, exclaimed with a growl. The femme took the bear away and glared at Steel. Steel squeaked and tried to hide under some stuffing.

Star scooped up Scatter and purred at her, "It's alright, precious, the bear can be fixed."

Scatter whimpered a few times as she calmed down, giving a last sniff. A few seconds later, Prime himself arrived.

"What is going on here?" Prime frowned at the stuffing on the floor. Whirl chirped up at him in the sparkling version of Cybertronian. He gave a low growl and plucked Steel out from under the bit of stuffing by his scruff bar.

"Did you _purposely _rip Scatter's bear?" Prime demanded of his son. Steel chattered miserably and whined a bit, kicking his pedes in the air. An ocean blue femme walked in and sighed.

"Prime, be gentle," the femme told him, taking Steel from him, "He doesn't know a whole lot yet. Now Steel, apologize to Scatter. That was very naughty, and you made her cry. That's no way for you to act."

Steel whined a few more times and finally clicked an apology to the now quiet Scatter. Scatter only nodded and nestled into Star, rubbing her blue optics. Her tiny doorwings had perked up at the apology and a tiny smile formed again.

Shade sighed in relief and picked up the stuffing before nodding to Star and going to her room to fix the bear. This wasn't the first time the bear had ripped, so this time, Shade was going to make sure it would stay out of Prime's terrible twosome's claws. She frowned. She didn't understand how such perfect brats had come from two kind parents. Perhaps they were spoiled. Shade exhaled noisily. It wasn't her problem at least. She would just make sure they didn't make her little sister cry again.

Just then, a warning alarm went off and the speakers around the interior of the base clicked on.

"Decepticon spotted heading for Autobot base. I repeat: Decepticon spotted heading for Autobot base!" Red Alert's voice showed urgency as he reiterated that there was indeed a Con coming toward the base of operations.

-0-

_The Con grinned at the sudden frenzied shouting behind him as two Autobots on patrol took off after him. The plan was working flawlessly. He soon pulled up on the side of the road leading to the Autobot base. The two Autobots immediately transformed and aimed guns at him. He calmly transformed and raised his hands in relaxed surrender._

"_I would like to join the Autobots," he told them smoothly, "I have no wish to start a fight."_

_The two 'Bots narrowed their eyes suspiciously. _

"_Take out your weapons and give them to me," the blue one demanded. The Con took out his gun from subspace and laid it on the ground. A broad sword followed, and then he held his hands out, palms up._

"_I don't have any more weapons."_

_The other Autobot, a weird green color scanned him, and then nodded to the blue Autobot. The taller blue Bot took out some stasis cuffs and snapped them onto the Con, and then led him back toward base. The smaller Bot scooped up the weapons and held a gun to the Con's back as they walked back to base. After a few minutes, Prowl, Prime, and a few other officers came out to meet them. _

_The Con hid a grin. Just as planned. Now where was the femme?_

-0-

"What's going on, Dani?" Shade hurried out of her room as Star hurried past.

"A Decepticon has asked to join our ranks. One of the patrols saw him and chased him down and they are coming with him right now," Star replied quickly, "Watch Scatter for me please."

"Sure," Shade answered easily and headed to Star's room. She picked up the chirping sparkling and soothed her.

"Dani just needs to do her job. She'll be right back Scatter," Shade purred and rubbed Scatter's head and little blue chevron. Scatter calmed and purred back, grinning up at Shade. Shade grinned. Her sister was precious. She couldn't believe the changes that had occurred within the few months that she had lived at the Autobot base. Prowl was kind to her, and approved of her babysitting at times instead of Shadow. Not that Shadow was bad at it, but he was a young mech and sometimes he was awkward around Scatter. Cade on the other hand… well, he didn't babysit period. He was ok, but he still didn't really hang out with Shade. This didn't bother her in the least; she preferred to hang out with Shadow and Night, both of which kept her laughing. She had her own room, her own family and friends, and a Dani who really cared.

_Opi cared too, _a little voice whispered in the back of her mind, _he loved you and kept you away from some of the more volatile Cons. He trained you to fight well with your blades. _

"Yeah, but he lied to me," Shade muttered, frowning a bit. Scatter unexpectedly tapped Shade's nose with a tiny hand.

"What is it Sparky?" Shade asked, confused. Scatter repeated the action, a sort of worried clicking accompanying it. Shade slowly grinned, and the third time Scatter tapped Shade's nose, Shade honked her car horn in response. Scatter burst into laughter and wiggled happily, pleased that she had stopped Shade's frowning.

"You're silly, Skate," Shade snickered, leaving the disturbing traitorous thoughts for later. Little did she know they would arise again, even stronger than before.

-0-

Vivi- How's that for an introduction? ;) It may be a bit before I can update again, but this idea came, and I had to write it right away. Enjoy!

If there's anything you have questions on, leave a review and I'll be glad to answer, as long as it doesn't give away what will happen in the future. (:


	2. No Way

No Way

Shade, Shadow and Night gathered in a corner of the large cafeteria to talk over the new arrival after they had finished their daily energon. The cafeteria wasn't anything special, with gray walls and an energon dispenser, courtesy of Wheeljack, at one end. The rest of the area was filled with tables for Cybertronians to eat, work on reports, or to chat with friends while they drank their energon. The area the three friends had chosen was not as well lit, but they didn't mind a bit. Other Bots were milling around the area as they talked amongst themselves.

"You have got to be joking," Shaderacer stated in a matter of fact tone, her obsidian doorwings stiffened. She didn't want him here, not yet. Not when the questions of her loyalty pinged in her spark.

"I'm not," Shadow frowned, "He's here."

"Why?" Shade asked softly, "Why now?" She couldn't understand it. He was devoted to the Con's cause. What made him change his mind? Or did he have a completely different plan?

"Red Alert is interrogating him now to find out," Shadow shivered. At one time, he had trusted the mech. Once he found he was a Con…well that was the end of the trust. Especially after the mech had beaten his dani numerous times.

"So uh, bad things afoot I guess?" Night asked. He was a bit awkward during the conversation, since he had no connections to the 'Con and really didn't much care what happened to him.

"Yes," Shade stated simply, a faraway look coming into her violet eyes. _I have to go see him at some point. I have to see. I have to ask._ Shadow frowned and nudged her slightly.

"You shouldn't go see him. Period. You're way too vulnerable to do that," Shadow sent her a look, his usually cheery and mischievous countenance gone, and then sent a thought over there small spark brother/sister bond. _I know what he's capable of. He may have been the nicest Con to you, but he's still a Con. You have to be careful. I don't want you going near him._

"You can't stop me," she retorted, clenching her fists slightly. One thing she would _not _tolerate was Shadow telling her what to do. Yes, he was her older brother, but she wasn't ready to listen to him without questioning.

Night caught on to what Shadow wanted immediately, and agreed. "You can't go down there," he said, crossing his arms. "Shad won't let you, and I won't either. I bet Prowl and Star won't either. Seriously, you don't have any reason to go near that freak. What good did he ever do you?"

"He raised me to fight, and he cared about me, which is more than I can say for the rest of the Cons," Shade growled slightly, "I learned how to protect myself. You think I'm just going to walk away and forget about him? No. Not happening. _He _raised me, not some righteous 'Bots, OK? I know what I'm doing." Shade moved away from her brother and his best friend. She didn't need the lecture. She had enough of being treated like a sparkling from everyone. She had grown up on her own at the Con base. Though she was still a youngling, she had been part of the Con's intelligence team. They treated her like any other adult. Here, she had quite a bit of down time, making her feel useless.

Shadow growled, "You aren't going down there. I don't care what he's done in the past. He wants something here, and that may be you. I'm not going to lose you to the Cons again because of your hard helm."

"You're forgetting something," Night growled. "I was raised by 'Cons too. But the bots that _really_ care about me are here_. Look_, if that... mech... really cared about you, he wouldn't have beat up your danni and _fragging stole you_. He's a _creep._"

Shade went silent, her bravado fading. They both had a point. Her doorwings drooped. Though the mech was a Con...she still cared. Still hoped. Still believed things could change and he would be an Autobot.

"Think about it Shade. Stay away from him at least until they've figured out what to do with him," Shadow sighed, putting a gentle hand on her arm, knowing she needed time. She had come from growing up as a Con. She had had more advantages in the Con ranks than he had. He had been kidnapped when he was older and understood more. She hadn't had the chance to see real love and a real, caring family. She was still learning.

Night's growling slowly eased off. "Just... be smart ok?" he sighed. "I got here, and it took me two days to see I had it better here. My sister, the last person in my family, takes care of me, and I have friends. Everyone takes care of everyone here. No one but Sunstreaker and Saber beat each other up. Just... don't risk it ok?" he muttered quietly. "I like you too much."

Shade stood quietly a moment. She knew she had to be careful. She would wait. A slight shiver fluttered her doorwings. She didn't know what the Con was planning, but deep down, she knew she didn't want to go back to the Cons, as much as she seemed to defend them. She went to Night and gave him a quick hug and then backed off.

"I'll be careful. I know the 'Bots are better. That's why I'm here, and not back with the Cons," she told him gently, "I like it here too much to go back. I have family. More than just a Opi that cares as much as a Con can..." _And I like you too much to hurt you too._

A flicker of a grin crossed Shadow's face, and his eyes faded for a moment, then brightened. Shade immediately became suspicious.

"Shadow. You didn't just..."

"Yes I diiiiid," Shadow avoided Shade's swat at him, snickering.

"That's ok," Night grinned. "Nothing I don't know anyway," he grinned, and sent Shadow a message back.

Shadow yelped, "NIGHT! I didn't need to know _that_!" He had a horribly disgusted expression on his face. Shade brightened up and snickered, hiding behind Night.

"That's what you get for telling my beautifully precious thoughts, dear brother," Shade grinned out from behind Night.

"Shade, get back here," Shadow play growled at her, going after her and tickling her. Shade squeaked and tried to keep Night between her and Shadow.

"Help me," she looked up at Night pleadingly, her bright purple optics blinking pitifully up at him, and her face plates pulling an adorable puppy look.

Night grinned and happily tackled Shadow. "Be gone foul beast!" he shrieked, drawing the attention of everyone else in the Cafe. Barricade, who had decided there were worse tortures then watching after Scatter, instinctively pulled the sparkling close and glared in Night's general direction for a second. Everyone else went from instantly alarmed to amused and went about their business or simply snickered and watched Night beat up his best friend.

Shade laughed, and stood back. Revenge was sweet, even if she wasn't the one doing it. Shadow shoved Night away and quickly grabbed Shade and used her as a shield.

"Shaade, call 'im off..." Shadow whined, but grinned. He didn't mind the play fighting with his friend, as long as Shade was there. Shade always managed to get him out of getting the worst of it.

Scatter squeaked, startled at the sudden commotion, but relaxed when she realized the younglings were just playing. She snuggled up under Cade's chin, watching contentedly. She liked Cade, even if he didn't exactly love sparkling sitting her.

Suddenly, Night had a brilliant idea. He snatched Scatter away from Barricade and held her up above his head, being very careful not to drop or harm her. "Let the lady go or I'll..." he took a few seconds to think, "...I'll give her to Wheeljack!" he teased.

Scatter squealed. This wasn't part of _her _plan. She had been very comfortable where she was, and she didn't appreciate the black youngling taking her from her adopted brother. Shade chirped up at the squirming sparkling, soothing her. _It's ok Skate, he won't hurt you. I promise. _Scatter calmed slightly, but whined down at Night, wiggling and trying to reach Cade. Shadow frowned slightly, but let Shade go. When his littlest sister was involved and upset, he dropped his play immediately.

Night glanced up. "Oh. Not happy?" he asked, gently placing the sparkling on the ground. "Sorry," he grinned and rubbed the little femme's doorwings.

Scatter relaxed as soon as her pedes touched the ground. She couldn't help purring as he rubbed her sensitive doorwings. As soon as she could she got up and toddled back to Cade, hugging his leg, chirping and clicking her discontent at the situation. Shadow frowned at Night, but didn't say more. Scatter was safe, but he didn't like it when she was upset.

Shade purred at the sparkling and then poked Night. "No using my sister as trade, alright?" she demanded with a faint grin, "She doesn't need to get in our 'problems.' Besides, I'm free now anyway."

"Sorry," Night shrugged. "She didn't mind when I tossed her around the other day, didn't think she'd mind that," he grinned sheepishly. Barricade glared at them all before picking up Scatter and placing her back on the table. "Yeah, yeah, Night's a fragging retard, I get it, Squeaker."

Scatter whirred, frowning up at Cade, disliking the language he used, but in the end agreed with the gist of what Barricade said.  
>"Well, she was prepared for that, not being snatched up and used as trade," Shade shook her head, rubbing Scatter's helm, "It's ok Skate, Night didn't mean to bother you."<p>

Shadow grinned slightly, "I agree with Scatter, Night. I don't get how you get along with Shade with your surprise attacks on defenseless sparklings."

"Hey, I wasn't hurting her. Saber did that me all the time when I was little and I loved it. She even traded me with the school bully once so she could have three cookies instead of one. Course the bully couldn't put up with me, so he dropped me in a trash can, but that was ok too." Night rambled.

"Hush you," Shade gently hugged Night, putting a finger on his face plates to stop his rambling, "Just don't do it again."

Shadow snickered, watching his best friend and his sister carefully. He had watched their relationship change slightly as they became friend. He wondered if there was something they weren't telling him outright.

Night's stubby antenna perked up and blinked. _Mkay, _he messaged to Shade. Suddenly, he backed off. "Saber's about to walk by Sunstreaker again, I'd better go prevent World War III," he sighed, and hurried off. "Don't do it Saber! Don't do it!" he screamed. There was a crash, and some yelping, and then an ominous silence.

Then Night went streaking out of base, screaming, with both Sunsteaker and Saber chasing him. Meanwhile, Shadow was rolling on the floor laughing, with Shade standing nearby, looking very unimpressed.

"...How'd he manage that?" Cade asked, listening to the assorted shrieks from the three fade away. Scatter chirped, blinking innocently. _He's Night, what did you expect? _She whistled in her sparkling language, giggling to herself.

-0-

Vivi- Well, I had some very good suggestions from GlitchGirl23, so I'm going to have longer chapters, and the action will be more spread out.

Thanks to Athena for helping write this chapter with her OC Night and Saber, and her portrayal of Cade!

Athena: and as a side note for anyone not aware, Cade was turned into a sparkling and raised by Star. So Shade, Shadow, and Scatter are family... and Night is dumb, but it adds to his charm :)


	3. Condemned

Condemned

"My designation is Shockblade," the mech smiled from his cell in the brig. Finally, he was so close to his prize. He had to seem like a decent Con in order to get out. Plus he had to find who Star had bonded to, in order to keep her quiet about her past with him. Blade growled inwardly. That would complicate matters. _Blackhole, have you found who has the misfortune of being bonded to my ex-'sparkmate' yet?_

_Not yet, _the smooth, cold voice answered over their bond. _I have narrowed it down. He is one of the higher ranking officers, so tread carefully, love._

_Yes my sweetspark. Please hurry._

_What do you _think _I'm doing? Stop contacting me so I can _concentrate. Her icy voice came in with a low dark growl.

_I…_

_Shut _up.

Blade flinched, going silent and closed the bond slightly so she could focus. Even he knew when to back off when Blackhole used that voice. He seemed to be getting that tone more often now.

"Okie dokie!" This was the dorky, black youngling standing outside the cell, startling him out of his thoughts. "I'm gonna ask some questions, and you get to answer them, cool?" he grinned.

Blade resisted the urge to roll his eyes. This would be easier than he thought. Merely a youngling. Younglings were easy to fool.

"Alright," Blade shrugged nonchalantly, making sure to keep the edge out of his voice.

The youngling shifted nervously. "Okay, eh... first one says... name. Then it says nicknames."

"I don't have any nicknames. Next," Blade frowned slightly. Unless they counted Blade. The kid could guess them on his own. Blade leaned back to relax a bit.

"Mkay," the youngling scribbled on a datapad, tongue barely poking out. How... childish. "Okay! Question two!"

What was this, a game show?

"What... is your ID number? And your favorite color, and your favorite brand of energon, also your favorite armor liner, because if you have a good brand I want to know. Mine itches."

Blade's eye twitched ever so slightly. Why did they send a youngling to do a mech's job?

"357289. Red. Any energon that isn't watered down. The Linearlinex brand," Blade replied mechanically. This youngling was nothing. He hoped his daughter wasn't hanging around this stupidity.

The youngling continued to scribble crazily for a few minutes. "Great. You're doing awesome at this. I'm so glad Soundwave is standing in the hall verifying all this for me. Question 3! Um... that's really tiny font..." he squinted at the tablet. "Oh. Make and model. Earth and Cybertronian," he grinned at Blade. Somewhere in the hall, a mech sighed and muttered something to someone else, who... meowed.

Was this how Autobots got their information? By driving Decepticons utterly insane in a psychotic mad house?

Blade sighed, "A fixed up Ford Focus, and a hovercar class with some modifications." When would these mundane questions end?

"Missed one," the black youngling's spikes twitched. "What's your root form's class?" He shifted from foot to foot, glanced at the hallway, and sighed before settling. "Got nervous there, thought Prowl was gonna-"

And there he was, in all his police car glory, along with Barricade. "Night, thank you," Prowl nodded. "Barricade and I can take it from here." Night sighed, and hurried away, handing the tablet to Prowl as he did so. "...Red?" Prowl muttered.

Barricade snickered and took the tablet from Prowl, filling in the question that Night hadn't had time to. He knew practically everything about his brother. "Alright brother-of-mine. Age, date of sparking, family," he read off. Prowl stood beside him, practically radiating authority.

_Slag. _That was the only thought that ran through Blade's mind. _Blackhole? _

_Not _now. _I almost found who it is._

Blade told his age and date of sparking slowly to buy time. _Blackhole, I have to tell them my family. _

_Too bad. Tell them anyway._

_It's my brother. He knows._

_You're in the mess, so you deal with it._

Blade took a deep breath. "Blackhole is my sparkmate, and I have a son named Dare." He stopped there. Dragging up his fake bonded wife Star wouldn't help matters.

"And you have had one fake-bond to Electrostar, and produced two sparklings, Shadow and Shaderacer... got it. Blackhole, really Blade? She's cold," Barricade shook his head disapprovingly, smirking as he did so. Barricade had obviously seen and felt the hesitation and anxiety that came from him.

Blade growled slightly under his breath. Leave it to his little brother 'Cade to ferret out the truth. "That too." He made sure to block their sibling bond slightly; he didn't want 'Cade to find the lies. But what about Soundwave out in the hall? He was cornered, and he knew it.

"Hey, calm down. We're almost done here," Barricade growled back slightly as well. "I need your medical history, and rank. Also, any close friends, possible allergies... and what time you eh... why is this question even on here?" Barricade muttered and rolled his eyes. "That time," he huffed, tapping his chest.

Blade quickly gave information, proud that he was a higher rank than most of his fellow Cons. Especially Nitro, the idiot. He was glad he had surpassed the bumbling Con. He easily told the time, unfazed, amused at his brother's reaction.

Barricade nodded and tapped at the tablet, apparently having figured out how to use the keyboard better then the youngling had. "Alright... there's only five more pages left. How exciting," Barricade dead-panned. He sighed, and started asking the questions.

The whole process to a good extra twenty minutes, and everyone was sick of interrogation by that point. Ravage could be heard complaining in the hall, and Soundwave could be heard just as clearly telling the cat to shush. Prowl wasn't showing much emotion. It could only be assumed he was sick of interrogation because his doorwings had drooped half a centimeter ten minutes in.

Blade was relieved when Star wasn't brought up again. They hadn't berated him for the fake bond, but he still hadn't found who was bonded to her. No matter, it was over with. He gave a great sigh and relaxed.

"Now," Barricade, handed the tablet to Prowl, his red eyes flashing a bit. "It gets a little more personal," he growled. "I need to know why you fake bonded to Star."

_Oh slag. Not this...Blackhole?_

_Can't find it, sorry love. _Blade sensed a faint glee in Blackhole's words. Was she purposely trying to get him in trouble?

"She needed protection, but she knew it was fake," Blade had told her it was fake. When she was asleep. So it was true...in a sense. _I'm slagged._

"That doesn't even make sense," growled Barricade. "Start making sense slagger. Start talking," he growled, low and dangerous, extremely sharp teeth glinting in the light.

"Alright, I didn't know the mech who bonded us was a fake," Blade answered calmly, "Sorry for being unclear before."

"That's stupid Blade, and you know it," Barricade growled. _I knew you then. I still know you. You needed someone to control hm? Maid service and all that... That's all isn't it?_ he snarled over the sibling bond.

_That wasn't all. I cared for her. _Blade growled. _She was smarter than all those other femmes, but she was still naive. That's why._

"You abused her because she was naive?" Barricade growled. "Do you know what those fake bonds can do to a femme?" Barricades voice had dropped to a low, dangerous tone. For whatever reason, he must really care about Star.

"I didn't abuse her, she attacked me a few times, and I had to protect myself," Blade growled back, "Why, are you bonded to her now or something? She must have gotten to you somehow. I never thought you would go after an older, leftover femme."

Barricade's snarl died. "She's my danni," he muttered. "The worst of the Decepticons were... turned back into sparklings. The others don't know. Mine didn't work right..." he trailed off, thoughtful for a moment. "She was better then anyone I ever knew," he finally snapped at Blade and flexing his fingers as though he was about to pull out his flails. "You had no right to abuse her." Prowl even joined in on the snarling this time, if only for a brief second. "That's enough Barricade," he muttered. "She's my bonded too, there's no need to be violent."

_Aw slag, _ran through Blade's mind again. So _Prowl _was Star's bonded. That just made everything ten times worst. Why did Star have to manage to get the second in command? This Autobot loved justice. That could only mean one thing. He was condemned to the worst fate possible. Probably death. He backed up slightly. With Cade, who was now also Star's kid, and Prowl against him, his fate couldn't be anything good. Malicious intent flashed across Prow's optics briefly. Definitely condemned to death.

-0-

Vivi: Well Blade. Look what you got into. Good job. -.- Anyway, one of the fun chapters to write and hopefully read, which reminds me, GO READ ATHENA'S STORY. *Shameless Advertising* Adventures in Space. Go read it. Now. :P

Athena: Welp, this was fun. Enjoy you crazy folks. Also, a certain someone gave me a rabid carrot. I've named him Mr. Johanson and he sings Jimmy Buffet songs while I work. I think he might be growing legs as well. How exciting!


	4. Fight! Fight! Fight!

Fight! Fight! Fight!

Today was the day. Shade wanted to peek in at her father. Oh, she wasn't going in, or saying hello. She just wanted to see how he was… even though Night and Shadow would try to drag her away if they knew. So, they wouldn't know. That was the plan. Now if only she could get rid of her recent tag along…

"Shaaade, we planned a movie day. C'mon, Scatter wants to, and Danni wouldn't mind and…"

_Ugh Shadow, not now… Dangit._

"...And I wanted to! 'Cade's even in on it!" grinned Night, literally appearing out of thin air. The black youngling tended to use his invisibility like Mirage did, staying out of the way until the last, startling second. Mirage wasn't impressed.

"Gah! Night… you guys…. Not today. I've got stuff-"

"No you don't," Shadow sent Shade a look. A look that told her he knew of her plan, and wasn't going to let her. Shade growled.

"I'm going Shadow. You can't force me," Shade glowered at her brother.

"I can force you," snickered Night, grabbing her into a hug. "C'mon Shade! I was kinda looking forward to it."

Shade wilted a little. Night was right. _He _could force her. Only because… well… Night was Night. _Why does Night have to be Night? _She groaned inwardly, hugging him back, huffing.

"Fine. Fine, whatever. Steal me away," Shade grumbled, but wasn't too put out. Her plan could wait.

"Night and Shade-racer, sitting on a rock, K-I-S-S-"

"SHADOW!" Shade made a lunge at him, more annoyed than anything else. Leave it to Shadow to find that stupid earth song and change the words.

"Yeah, dude, that's not funny," snorted Night. He let Shade go and lightly smacked Shadow over the head. "Your Opi would strongly disapprove," he snickered as Prowl walked by. "Whatever you three are up to, I want none of it," he muttered and kept walking.

"Aw, don't be like that Opi…" Shadow grinned cheekily, as Shade rolled her optics in the background. She missed Night's hug already. _Scrap you, Shadow, you ruined my moment._

"Prowl?" her Danni's voice drifted down the hallway at that moment, "Have you seen Scatter?"

"Check Barricade. I left her with him," he called back before disappearing around a corner. "Barricade?" Night asked. "He like that kid or what? He seems to spend a lot of time with her... You guys aren't worried about her mental health?"

"She can hold her own," Shadow replied dryly, "Star's her danni, after all."

Star glanced at the group with a smirk, lightly nudging Shadow before moving off to find Barricade. Shade snickered.

"And she's your danni too. You may not want to train with her today…" she told him, giggling.

"Oh yeah? Oh yeah? You think she's gonna hurt me for that?" Shadow taunted, tickling her door wings.

"Oh scrap Shadow not my door wings gah!" Shade exclaimed before dissolving into a giggling mass.

Night leaned against a wall and laughed. "You guys," he wheezed, "We're so dumb."

Shade managed to shove Shadow away and into Night, causing them both to fall in a heap, "I am not dumb. You two, on the other hand, are. I am not in this 'we' you speak of." With that, she dashed off at high speed to avoid the two youngling mechs.

"Shade, get back here you!" Shadow yelled after her, trying to untangle himself from Night.

Night howled and shoved Shadow away. "Elbows! Watch the _elbows!_" he yelped and ran after Shade. Shadow sat there a few moments, snickered, and then went off to check on his danni. His friends could handle themselves anyway.

Shade kept going, straight for the brig. This was her chance…maybe. She quickly wheeled a different direction and headed for her room and slid under the bed. She bit her lip, hiding her spark signature. _Yes, hidden at last. Now, I just have to wait, and then go see… Opi._

Two black feet appeared in the doorway. "C'mere little femme," rasped Night, ruining the effect slightly with a giggle.

_I don't think soooo, _Shade lay there quietly. She knew he probably knew she was under the bed, but she wasn't planning on coming out. She grinned, her door wings twitching slightly as she lay on her stomach underneath.

Suddenly, a pair of bright blue optics were staring straight into hers. "Gotcha!" Night yelped, smirking at her. Shade squeaked, jerking at his sudden appearance at the entrance of her hideout. Her wide purple optics stared for a second before giggling.

"Oh fine you found me," Shade huffed, grinning. Night grinned and gently helped her out from under the bed.

"So where's my prize?" he asked. "I gotcha."

"I dunno, what did you want as a prize?" Shade teased, amused, "I didn't know there was a prize involved."

Night looked a bit surprised. "I get to ask for whatever I want?" he asked, grinning.

"Within reason of course," Shade admonished him, grinning.

"Hmmmm...," Night took a moment to think. "How bout... nah, just gimmie some candy and we're even," he grinned.

"Hmm…No deal," Shade snickered and began to sneak off. She was only teasing, she would get him the candy in a moment.

"Aw! Shade!" Night, whined. "Just a little! I'll help you decorate your crazy-bland room!" he tried.

"My room is just fine, thank you," Shade giggled, and then popped a piece of candy into his mouth before he could say more, "Shhhh."

Night grinned, and pinned his spikes back in a submissive gesture as he chewed his candy. "Actuay," he said around the rather large chunk. "I fink et nees mo color," he grinned and went back to trying to chew. "Why's dis cany so sicky, Sade?"

_Aw he's so cute…_Shade grinned, "It got a little warm I thi-"

All of sudden, a loud sparkling shriek ripped down the hall, directly from the brig.

"Scatter!" Shade whipped around, and immediately ran for the brig.

Night started choking before quickly choking down the candy and running after Shade. _Not Scatter,_ he whined inwardly. _Don't let her be hurt._

"Bad, not Opi! Lie! Mean! Go away!" high pitched chattering came from the tiny replica of Prowl. The tiny sparkling was just out of reach of Blade, her tiny smokey blue door wings stiff. She had her rather large antenna pinned back, looking exactly like a very irate Electrostar.

Shade quickly scooped the sparkling up immediately, hushing the tiny femme. Blade looked startled, yet faintly amused.

"She has Star's spirit, that's for sure," he commented to his daughter.

"What did you do to her, Opi?" Shade frowned, "Scatter wouldn't get mad like this without a reason."

Night ran in about that time, and snarled. "Shade, get out of here. I'll get Prowl down here to deal with him."

Shade growled, "I can deal with him too. I'm not helpless."

"I didn't _do _anything. I don't know what she's talking about, but she's sure a spitfire…" Blade shrugged, seeming to be surprised at the sparkling's reaction.

Night snarled loudly, mustering up as much of his old Decepticon self as he could. "Shade. Get out and take Scatter with you before I force you."

"You can't force me to do anything. You aren't my brother or my opi," she snarled back, dragging up her anger at being told to stay away from her opi, "Don't _ever _tell me what to do."

Night pinned his antenna back and grabbed her arm. "I will if it will help you! Slag, I'll physically force you to do what I want if it will save you! Now get out of the brig!" he shouted, blue optics glowing dangerously in the low light.

Shade's optics turned to the more red part of her purple optics and jerked away, "I'm not in any danger and I don't need saving! Leave me the frag alone!"

A dark smirk crossed Blade's face only briefly, before disappearing. Shade didn't notice, since she was so intent on staying away from Night. By this time, Scatter had climbed down from Shade's arms and was now crawling quickly out of the brig, her oversized spikes pinned back, clearly irritated by the yelling.

Night caught the movement out of the corner of his optic and gave Shade a hard look. "Look, your baby sister has more sense then you, now get... out... of... the brig!" he shouted.

Suddenly, the light from the doorway was blocked out by a large figure.

"Is there a problem here?" asked the calm, deep voice of Optimus Prime.

Shade suddenly shied away nervously, her doorwings drooping. Night dropped her arm, but kept the same hard expression locked on her for a minute before looking away. She didn't understand why Night was so against her seeing her opi. She didn't want to fight with him, but he was forcing her to ignore the mech who had raised her, and that didn't set well with her independent persona. She glanced up at Optimus Prime, her optics fading to their normal purple color and she licked her lips, her mouth suddenly felt dry.

"Neither of you are on guard duty," Prime sighed. "And we can hear you across base. I suggest both of you leave."

Night backed away and hurried off, brushing past Prime. He was done arguing with the silly femme anyway. Shade drooped more. Night probably wouldn't want to have anything to do with her now that he saw how stubborn she was at times.

"Yes sir. I'm sorry sir, it won't happen again," Shade replied softly, moving past Prime and heading for her room.

Both Prime and Shade both missed the expression of brief triumph on Blade's face. His little youngling was playing her part perfectly, even if she didn't know the lines.

-0-

Vivi- Daaaaang. Shade dear, do you really think the anger was necessary? O.o' Anyway, EMOTIONAL CHAPTER, YAY. Review please thanks bye :P

Athena: yay this took forever :I bleh, I was drawing stuff for Vivi so whatever. VIVI COMES BEFORE ALL.


	5. Fixit

Fixit

"Shadow, go away," Shade groaned, turning over on her berth, keeping her optics offline. He had been bugging her for a while now, and it was beginning to grate on her nerves.

"Hey, my best friend and my sister aren't talking to me or each other, and it's stupid," Shadow frowned, "You saw our biological opi. What more do you want? A formal apology from the president of the United States?"

"That's ridiculous. I'm not mad about not seeing him, I'm mad that Night thinks he owns me and can tell me what to do," Shade growled, "Go away!"

"No."

"No?"

"No."

"Shadow! Go away!"

"Shade! Quit acting like a sparkling! Night was trying to protect you. Blade is still a 'Con. You _know _what he did to Danni. How do you know he isn't just here to get you back to the 'Cons?"

"But… I…"

"That's what I thought. Now get off that berth and get some energon. You haven't refueled since the fight yesterday," Shadow picked up Shade easily and began carrying her to the cafeteria, "And I'm carrying you because you're acting like a sparkling, so you should be treated like a great, big, sulking sparkling."

Barricade trailed behind the two, curious. A second later Prowl joined him and the awkward few continued down the hallway to the Cafe. Shade struggled and only managed to end up being held on Shadow's shoulder like a potato sack.

"Shadow, put me down!" Shade huffed, "You're acting like a cave-bot."

"You're acting like a…"

"Shadow, I'm not acting like a sparkling. Put me down, please and thank you," Shade growled.

"Now that you said please, there you go," Shadow easily set her on the ground, but kept herding her to a table.

Unfortunately, Prowl took this as his cue to start questioning Shade in a very fatherly, yet overly logical way. "Is this... mech trouble?" he asked. Barricade snickered somewhere in the background.

"Yeah sis, did Night finally dump you?" he teased.

Shade nearly growled, but stopped herself in time, "Yes mech trouble, spelled S-H-A-D-O-W." She huffed slightly. She wasn't really in the mood to deal with her adopted father and adopted brother on top of Shadow's lame attempts at getting her out of the bad mood that was lingering from her fight with Night.

"Perhaps you should tell me what happened. I might be able to offer assistance," Prowl said as he claimed a table. Barricade laughed some more before wandering off. "Have fun with Prowl's assistance," he sent via comm to Shade. Once Shadow saw that Prowl had it under control, he trotted off to bother some other unfortunate soul, otherwise known as Cade.

"You need it too, Caders," she sent back to Cade, huffing slightly.

"Opi..." Shade sighed. _Maybe it would help if I just told him. Even if he's not amazing and romantic relationships, at least he could give me some logical advice._

"Basically, Night doesn't want me to see my biological opi. He said he'd force me to stay away from him to 'save me' or whatever. All I wanted to do was go see him. Even if he was a horrible Con, he's still my opi."

"Who abused your mother. There's good reason behind Night's thinking... but I think he was right about you not being alone with him. Why don't I go with you?" he offered, doorwings perking up slightly. Prowl had never been amazing with younglings, but he tried.

Shade's optics brightened. Night couldn't argue with this logic. She grinned and gave Prowl a quick hug.

"You're the best. Mom knew a good mech when she saw one and she picked you," she purred at him a bit, happier.

"Um... Thank you," Prowl muttered, giving her an awkward hug back. Shade giggled and quickly drank her energon.

"Um Opi? We can go see Blade later, I… want to talk to Night," Shade smiled sheepishly. She felt bad, she really did. She would apologize as soon as she found Night. He was her best friend, next to her rather annoying brother, Shadow.

"That's fine," Prowl nodded and pulled a work-tablet of some sort out of subspace. Shade hurried off immediately, hoping to find Shadow quickly.

_I care about Night, I really do. I should have listened, he was right about being around my opi alone, and I knew that. _Shade sighed to herself before calling out loud, "Night?"

Night did not want to answer. The halls remained silent. Shade drooped as her voice echoed back to her.

"Night… I'm sorry. I was wrong…can you forgive me? Please?" she nearly begged for him to come out. She wanted this resolved. She didn't want to lose his friendship.

"Night?"

"He's been gone all day," Saber answered from behind her. "Try messaging him, I can't get the dumb angsty teen to come home," she snorted and continued on her way.

"Thanks Saber," Shade nodded, and then headed outside before opening a comm link to him, "Night, I'm sorry. I was wrong. I shouldn't have pushed to see my dad alone. Can you forgive me?"

There was a long pause before Shade got any sort of reply. "I guess," he commed back.

Shade drooped. 'I guess' wasn't very reassuring. She swallowed a lump in her throat, "I'm so sorry…you were just trying to protect me and I just _had _to be so stubborn about something that could have turned out bad in the end…oh Night…"

"Oh Juliet!" was the teasing reply.

Shade snorted, and a faint grin crossed her face, "Alright Romeo, where's the pretty poem about me?"

"Hmmm..." Night took a moment to think.

"Ok, There once was a femme named Shade, and on the cons she did raid, then she kissed Night and it was alright, so they got bonded the next day," he laughed.

"Oh really?" Shade snickered, and then asked impishly, "And when is this raid?"

"Um... well... that's coming soon," he snorted. "I'm heading back, be there in five."

"Alright," Shade giggled and waited. She relaxed in the sun a bit. She felt a little bad that he had gone off because of the argument, but she supposed he wanted to think about what had happened too.

A few minutes later a black Mustang rumbled up to Shade. "Sorry about not talking to you, but it's not like you were..." he trailed off.

"It's not like I was talking either and I was acting like a sparkling… Shadow's words, not mine," Shade snorted, then sighed, "I'm sorry. I just reacted badly, and it went down from there."

"It's okay," Night muttered as he transformed to root mode and stretched. "Friends?"

"Best friends," Shade glomped Night, grinning up at him.

-0-

_That night, a dark figure slipped up to the keypad that would unlock the brigs doors. The figure stilled as he heard a soft sound in the hallway. It faded after a moment, and then the figure began rapidly typing in the key code. The Con knew exactly what to do, and within minutes, the cell door unlocked with a soft click. Two similar grins crossed the prisoner and the traitor's faces. Time was running short. Soon, the plan would be enacted._

-0-

Vivi- ANGST! And friends again :D yay. :P and what's this little dream sequence at the end talking about….

Athena: obviously, it's talking about Vivi's nightlife.

Vivi- …because I'm obviously a Con and go let terrible people out of jail. :P

Athena: no. Vivi lives in the brig :C

And.

We wrote this on lack of sleep tiems. if its horible we apolozizzzzzzz... *thunk*

Vivi- ZZZZZZZZZ *drools on keyboard*


	6. Shock

Shock

Vivi's Warning: This chapter is not for the queasy stomached. This is the reason this story is rated T for Violence.

-0-

Another explosion rocked the base, and yet another shouted apology from Wheeljack's lab echoed down the hallways.

Typical day with the Autobots.

Shaderacer snickered to herself as she headed down a hallway away from the lab. She didn't exactly want to get caught in another explosion. Click and Jack were working on some device they had used in the past, but it was giving them issues. Again. And again.

Shade grinned and glanced around. Now where was that impish gray brother of hers?

"Hi!" Shadow popped up beside her, a little smoke coming from his arm.

"…You were too close to the lab again?"

"No…" the sheepish voice told the story.

"Yes," Shade snorted, "Sometimes I wonder which of us really is the more mature one."

"That would be your darling, black friend of course," Night grinned, appearing from behind Shadow and smoking from his shoulder.

"No." Shadow and Shade said at the same time. Shade snickered at Shadow's chagrined expression.

"You got hit too, and I wasn't anywhere near it," Shade grinned, "You're in the same boat as Shadow, _darling_."

"Whatever, _dearest,"_ Night snickered before continuing on his way. "Prowl says get to bed on time and I am going to be punted to the moon by Prime himself if I don't finish my reports properly. Be seein' ya!"

"Um, is the 'get to bed on time' to me or you, crazy mech?" Shade asked quickly before he could get out of audioshot. Shadow just gave them both a weirded out look at the sarcastic terms of endearment.

"You!" Night yelled from around the corner.

"It should have been you," Shade muttered to herself with grin, "Well, see ya Shad." She moved off toward her quarters.

"You are starting to sound like him," Shadow huffed at the nickname, but Shade spotted a grin hiding underneath.

"You too darling," Shade laughed as Shadow moaned in mock agony.

She began to make her way past the brig's open doorway, glancing at the cell that held her opi. Then she stopped and looked closer. She didn't spot him right away, and that bothered her. _He isn't…_

Suddenly a large hand clamped on her arm and another covered her mouth.

"Shhh sweetspark, opi's going to take you home."

Shade struggled with all her might, feeling weak and desperate. Her opi wasn't going to drag her to the 'Cons, was he? How did he get out anyway? She growled through the hand covering her mouth and bit with the sharp teeth only femmes had. Shockblade growled back, wincing.

"C'mon Race, we need you," he half growled as she continued to bite and struggle.

Unfortunately for Shockblade, his only answer was a plasma blast that clipped his shoulder as some hysterically screeching someone triggered an alarm. A great deal of shouting and the sound of pounding Autobot pedes suddenly roared to life along with the warning sirens. Someone yelled over the public intercom to put the base into lockdown, while someone over-rode that person to shout about a code five prisoner escape.

Shockblade pulled out his gun that his helper had gotten for him in response and snarled under his breath. He then jerked Shade along with him as he made his way toward the entrance. He used Shade as a shield so that the Autobots wouldn't shoot for fear of injuring her. He smirked as his plan worked.

But it only worked a few minutes.

Night stood straight in front of Shockblade. He seemed to be in shock, and was staring wide-opticed at the 'Con before him. A red seeker femme standing beside him slapped him upside the head and growled something at him. Night yipped once and then snarled as he suddenly ran at Shockblade. The femme seemed to have smacked pure rage straight into the black mech. "I didn't mean that, Night!" the red femme yelled, thus identifying herself to Shockblade as Night's sister, Saberquake. Other bots snarled and yelled for the Night to stop.

He didn't.

"Night! No! Go back!" Shade yelled as she jerked her head free, and then realized it was no use. "Opi! STOP!"

Shockblade merely raised his gun, took aim, and fired.

Shade screamed and lunged for the gun, trying to knock Blade's aim off, hoping against hope the shot would miss Night entirely.

It did cause Blade to falter only a fraction, but the shot homed in on Night. There was no way it could miss him as Shade had hoped.

The shot hit its mark, and barreled straight through Night's chest before disintegrating. He slumped to the floor, a faint blue flicker appearing every so often through the gaping hole. Sparks danced on his now twitching frame and he was leaking energon badly.

There was a beat of silence.

Suddenly, all the Autobots seemed to snarl as one, and glared at Shockblade.

Then a slivery blue mech with red optics suddenly ran in between the Autobots and Blade, shouting something unintelligible, but it was enough for Blade to race for the door, still using Shade as a shield.

Shade snarled through a half sob, "I _hate _you opi."

Chaos broke out elsewhere. Confused Autobots shot either at the new 'Con or at Shockblade. More Decepticons suddenly broke into the area, scattering the Autobots around even further. Saberquake, however, was proving very hard to distract. She continued to follow after Shockblade, energy-sword pulled out and humming threateningly. Saber, unlike her sword, was snarling.

The new 'Con began shooting back into the chaos, but Blade ploughed forward toward his goal: the exit. He whipped out a black blade with a red energy edging and kept it between him and Saber. He had a healthy respect for the femme and her ways of destroying 'Cons.

Shade suddenly got and arm free, and snapped a similar looking blade out of subspace, snarling, "Let me go, opi!"

Saber took the distraction as the gift it was and stabbed a dagger from subspace into Shockblade's wrist. She sliced the wrist down to the center of his sword-holding hand before pulling it out. Her red eye was glowing brighter then the blue one, and she licked her lips. Her antenna twitched in anticipation of a good fight.

Blade snarled and shoved Shade to a flying 'Con, with a quick, "Get her out of here, now!" Then he took out a blade with his left hand and slashed at Saber while putting distance between them, snarling as he did so.

Saber took the attack to her arm, which she had swung up in front her face to protect it. The two circled each other, each looking for an opening. Saber spotted Shockblade's first. His armor was thinner toward his stomach area. Saber laid her antenna flat, tucked back her wings, and lunged.

Shade saw Saber go at him, but she couldn't watch. Even if she hated him… he was still her opi. No matter what though, she had to get away and make sure Night lived. She struggled in the flying 'Con's grip, trying to slash at him with her energon blades. The Decepticon merely grunted and dug its claws further under her armor, severing a few minor fuel lines and wires.

Shade winced but slashed at his hands, trying to dislodge his claws, or disable them. She heard a snarl from where Blade was fighting and his heavy steps headed rapidly in her direction.

"Go!" he snarled at the 'Con, transforming painfully into his alt mode and zipping in the direction of the Decepticon base.

Saber, amazingly enough, was still after Shockblade. She lurched after the 'Con, leaking energon from multiple wounds and managed to tackle him in his alt mode. She then proceeded to pick him up and chunk him at a large rock.

Somewhere behind Shade, very close, someone cheered before opening fire on the Decepticon holding Shade. The 'Con dodged and weaved crazily as he tried to escape the barrage of fire. It was enough to make a 'Bot sick. Luckily, Shade had gone flying with Seekers before.

Falling was not part of flying with Seekers though.

Shade screamed as she felt herself slip from the 'Con's grasp and plummet toward the earth below. A minute later, a sickening crack sounded as she landed on her back, her doorwings taking the brunt of the fall and snapping under the pressure. The pain of the drop caused Shade to black out, effectively silencing pain, sight, and sound.

-0-

Vivi- Welp. That's the end of that. ;) Just kidding, I wouldn't do that to you now would I? ;D

Athena: Augh XD it's so violent haha. Anyways, just a head-ups, updates are going to be screwy for a long time. Vivi fled the state for a week, then we have random assorted... stuff... and then we both flee to the far corners of the bad-lands for a camping trip here soon. So yeah. We haven't forgotten this!


	7. The Beginning

The Beginning

"She's waking up…" a voice drifted across the room and filtered faintly through Shade's audios. She moaned softly, cringing at the slight movement of her doorwings. It felt like someone had torn them off, and then stuck them back in, hoping for the best. As she slowly onlined her purple optics, the blackness faded to gray, and then color began to fill her vision again.

A blinding yellow emergency vehicle filled Shade's vision. A moment later, a black and white bot hovered nearby. "Shade?" the black and white asked. The blinding yellow lemon-bot muttered and disappeared to poke and prod at a few wires and tubes hooked up to Shade.

She winced again at the prodding and gave a faint huff at the lemon-bot. "Adopted Opi…?" she managed to whisper before she coughed and her cooling fans kicked on, sputtering a bit.

"Shhh, its ok," the first voice came again, "You're going to be just fine."

Shade immediately recognized it as her danni's.

"That's right, Shade, it's me," the second voice answered. He moved out of sight a moment later and lemon-bot took up most of Shade's vision. "Can you tell me what happened?" he asked as he started to work on getting her cooling fans to work a little better.

Shade coughed again, her mind racing to what had happened just before her fall, "The con… dropped me and… I fell on my… doorwings…"

Lemon-bot was suddenly identified as Ratchet in Shade's HUD. "There," he huffed as her cooling fans finally ran smoothly. "That should help you out, and stop some of your coughing," he said. Then, "He _dropped_ you?"

"That's what I just said. I think he got distracted, I heard someone shooting at him, and he probably decided I wasn't worth it… what happened after that? How long was I out?" Suddenly Shade was filled with questions and a vague fear that she was forgetting something very important. Then it clicked.

"Is Night ok?" she whispered, terrified of what the answer might be.

Ratchet sighed and looked to his right. "He's stable and I think he'll make it. His spark casing was clipped pretty well," he replied. "I had been working on him before we found you and he was somewhat stable by the time you were brought in. The 'Cons all ran off after we managed to recapture Shockblade and shot someone down. I've been freakishly busy patching everyone up though, those 'Cons managed to get us pretty good. You've been out for around three days now," he explained, suddenly looking very tired.

Shade stayed quiet for a few moments and looked over in the direction Ratchet had glanced, and then sighed, "Thank you for all you've done. I'm sorry I've caused so many problems…"

"What problems?" Ratchet snorted, "That shouldn't have happened whether you decided to wander around in the brig or not." A faint growl rose up from Shade's right somewhere and Prowl made a reappearance in Shade's vision. "Why were you in the brig?"

Shade gulped and winced at the growl, "I wasn't in the brig. I was going past to my room, and then I realized I didn't see my opi in there, and then he suddenly grabbed me. I told you I wouldn't go in there unless you or someone else was with me."

Prowl relaxed, his doorwings drooping slowly. "Alright," he sighed. Prowl, as usual didn't show much emotion beyond his doorwings and posture, all of which read tired, healing, and worried. A large gash on his chest was bandaged over with some thin metal until his own body could heal it, and one doorwing was held at an awkward angle. His normally pristine paint was a mess as well. "We were... concerned," he said quietly.

Shade nodded carefully, not quite sure what all she had that was broken, "I'm just glad that… that nobody died on our side." _I don't think I could have forgiven myself if… if Night hadn't made it._

Prowl nodded and looked away for a moment before looking back at Shade. "You just injured your doorwings and jarred lots of things. There was a lot of broken tubing and wiring," he said in ways of a reply. It was well known that while Prowl did have emotions, it was nearly impossible for him to talk about them. Often, he would pick a relevant topic and discuss that instead. Across the room, Ratchet was rolling his optics. "What a sensitive husband you have, Star," he muttered.

"I'm sure Shade appreciates the change in subject," Star snorted, her spikes pinned back slightly. Her optics were rather pale though as she glanced over at Prowl.

"I do," Shade huffed at Ratchet, and then directed her attention to her danni, "Danni… did something hit your head again?"

Prowl huffed and wandered back over by Star to stand beside her. "Yes," Ratchet answered for Star. "What was... oh, it was a pipe."

"…Who threw it?" Shade asked.

"Some retarded Con in the battle," Star rolled her optics, "My optics will be fine, don't worry."

Shade nodded, growing a bit sleepy again. _I can't wait until I can be up and around… and see Night._

"Those pain-killers I gave you are making you tired," Ratchet called over to Shade. "Go ahead and sleep."

"Yes sir," a small smile crossed Shade's face as she offlined her optics and drifted off into a dreamless and painless sleep.

-0-

A few days later, Shade was finally allowed to get up and start walking around again. She carefully stretched her arms and legs to get rid of the stiffness from disuse, and then looked around, searching for only one specific face.

_Oh Night…_

The black mech was still unconscious as he lay on a medical table. His older sister, Saber, was sitting near him, sleeping in one of the uncomfortable medbay chairs. Rumor had that Ratchet had had those chairs specially engineered to be uncomfortable so people wouldn't stay in medbay to long and bug him.

Shade quietly set another chair on the other side of Night and settled there, studying him. _You shouldn't have gone at my opi… Oh Night…_Shade didn't risk touching his hand, but just stayed in her spot, her doorwings drooped. _If only I had taken a different route and avoided the brig like the plague…then Night wouldn't be in this mess and be safe and sound and chattering away with Shadow…_

Night's chest was a complete mess, as well as his back and left side. He was completely missing paint in those areas as well. The only area that had really escaped damage on the poor youngling was his face. "He's stable," Ratchet tried to reassure Shade as he shooed her away so he could work on her friend.

Shade only moved far enough away that Ratchet could work without her in the way. She wasn't going to leave him until he was conscious, and even then, she would probably be staying around until he was out of medbay.

"Your opi is that way," Ratchet gestured to somewhere behind him. "We're turning him into a sparkling today, now he's healed."

Shade jerked and stared up at Ratchet. "Great to find out now…" she muttered to herself, sent one glance toward Night, and promised herself that she would be back as soon as possible. She made her way to where Blade was, unsure and cautious.

Blade was strapped down to a medical table with the restraints that were reserved for the most violent patients or prisoners. He was in good shape and his paint was even clean and mostly scratch free. One would never know he had been smashed against multiple, hard objects last week.

A faint fear glimmered in his optics, and Shade knew he knew it would be the end of his life in a way. He had seen how turning Cons into sparklings had drastically changed their attitudes. Even Cade had changed ever so slightly, even though he remembered his past. He had defended his adoptive Autobot Danni.

Quite frankly, Blade was terrified.

"Opi. You're getting another chance."

"That may be, but how about how I feel?" Blade growled.

"Opi, don't you think this is more humane than dying? You get to continue living."

"Not as myself…"

"Yes as yourself. You have the same genetics, but you'll get a better upbringing."

"By my _brother. _Cade doesn't know the first thing about caring for sparklings."

Wheeljack hurried in with the sparkling-machine and started adjusting the settings, humming slightly. Barricade followed him in and leaned against a wall. "Bye," he said simply. He had made it obvious to everyone that he had never liked his abusive older brother.

"Bye Opi. It'll turn out for the best," Shade replied quietly, knowing that there was no way to reassure her opi, not anymore, "Love you."

Blade clenched his fists tightly, knowing that anything he did would be futile. His fear was obvious as he closed his optics, just waiting.

Wheeljack connected the machine to Blade and stood back. "Alright," he sighed, "Sorry pal..."

He punched a button on the machine, which instantly whirred to life. A moment later there was a blinding light and everyone in the room shut down their optics until the machines humming died off. Barricade was the first to online his optics and look at Blade. He was instantly shocked by the tiny sparkling lying on the table. He had expected this, of course, but still... that was his _older_ brother. He had a kid. At some point he had a complete family. Barricade remembered shoving him off of things and laughing at him as a sparkling. It was _weird._

Blade looked around, his red optics wide with curiosity. Then he chirped and glanced up at Cade. His little doorwings perked up instantly and wiggled as he gave a cheerful coo.

Shade stared at her opi. She couldn't call him opi any more. She stiffened slightly, trying not to cry. She knew no one liked him. No one would want to sympathize when he had hurt an Autobot youngling to boot. She still had cared about him. He had raised her. He had some sort of affection for her, whatever was possible for him.

Barricade just stared, wide opticed. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he wished Frenzy would come in and act like a retard to break the tension. "He's pretty cute!" Wheeljack grinned, ever cheerful. "Wouldn't think he would be, huh?" he chirped as he took the wires off little Blade.

"Huh," Cade said, at a loss for words. He was beginning to realize he was... actually sort of upset at the turn of events. He wouldn't show it though, and looked away, feigning disinterest.

Blade chirped more insistently, looking around, starting to look scared. He moved his doorwing agitatedly and finally chirped out, "Opi?"

Shade finally let go of what Blade once was. She now had an adopted opi who cared about her and would take care of her better than Blade had. She would still miss the Blade of the past from time to time, but he had another chance to become a better mech.

Barricade quickly looked over at him. "Yeah?" he asked as he scooped up Blade. "You wanna leave this place?" he asked, optics darting around the medbay. Ratchet was watching them carefully, and the machine had woken Saber up as well. She blinked and looked away politely.

Blade chirped and whined a bit, rubbing his stomach, a pitiful hungry expression resting on his face. He looked up at Cade trustingly, waiting. Star was nearby and stoically handed Cade a small cube of sparkling energon, recognizing that Blade needed. Shade turned away and returned to her seat by Night with a somewhat sad sigh.

Barricade handed the cube to Blade and let him drink from it. "Here you go, demon," he muttered and walked off with his new sparkling. Everything reverted back to the normal silence of the medbay, aside from the sounds of Night's monitors chirping or beeping and Wheeljack putting away his machine so he could cart it back his lab.

No one had much to say.

Then Night's optics onlined.

-0-

Vivi- And now we conclude the drama of Dodge: The Choice. NO, this isn't the end of Dodge's story, **BUT **there will be a wait until we finish with Backwater Planet. Never fear, faithful readers! It will be continued :D

Athena: We would appreciate any reviews with praise, constructive criticism, and ideas for the next story. Thank you all who reviewed on this, we really appreciate it!


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